Netflix Users Aren’t Abandoning Traditional Television

A new study suggests that Netflix users aren’t turning to Netflix as a replacement for cable, but rather a supplement. In other words, people just love TV shows and movies and they will turn to any and all means necessary to boost their content selection.

Netflix does not appear to cannibalize traditional TV: There was no significant difference in the amount of traditional TV viewing between the self-reported Netflix and non-Netflix households, nor did either group differ from the overall TV viewing population.

Basically, Netflix users are watching just as much cable TV as those who don’t have Netflix.

And it’s not just cable TV – but premium cable as well. For instance, the study found that people who said they watched Netflix’s political drama House of Cards also watched 85% more HBO programming that those who didn’t. The same “House of Cards households” also watched Showtime’s Homeland at 125% of the non-Netflix households.

“Our data show that Netflix is not currently a substitute for traditional television, but offers a way for TV lovers to watch more of the kinds of programs they love. The future of television may tell a different story, but as of today we’ve found that the Netflix subscribers in our study are not watching less traditional TV,” said TiVo Research and Analytics CEO Mark Lieberman.